Prem Watsa on the Board of RIM
- Some of the biggest news today is not getting discussed, Prem Watsa founder and CEO of Fairfax Financial has been appointed to the board of directors at RIM. Prem never likes to take a board seat on the companies that he invests in but he likes what he sees at RIM.
Wall street might not talk about Prem Watsa all that much but that just the way he likes it. Prem probably made more money than anyone, watching the wall street inflicted housing crash in the US happen. He cashed in on Billions from it.
So if engadget or Bloomberg don't like the changes at RIM, I'm just as happy today to have the backing of a thinker like Prem Watsa!
Quote: The catalyst for change appears to have been the entry of a new personality: reserved but revered investor Prem Watsa, CEO of Fairfax Financial. Mr. Watsa, who has been called Canada�s Warren Buffett for his business acumen, has been quietly buying RIM stock for some time. Fairfax is now one of RIM�s largest shareholders, and Mr. Watsa is being appointed to the company�s board of directors after playing a role in key discussions in recent weeks.
GO RIM!01-23-12 02:27 AMLike 2 -
- This is actually the more positive news from the shakeup. This man knows how to turn less into more and that's what RIM needs.Thunderbuck likes this.01-23-12 10:11 AMLike 1
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- So clever! some people must stay up all night dreaming up thier negative spin. But of course we are to believe what they have to say.
As i'm sure you know Apotheker was a total outsider to HP, look how that worked out. Heins is a insider that understands the company and is not about to drop what works for the unknown.Last edited by Dapper37; 01-23-12 at 11:09 AM.
01-23-12 10:51 AMLike 3 -
- Dapper -
So I checked Prem's RIMM investment from SEC quarterly records. I assume he accurately filed the required reports and they are public documents anyone can look at. He has taken a beating on RIMM.
Round numbers here my brain hurts today. First 2 million shares reported last June, average price $50.19. Bought another 6.3 million shares at average price of $43.84. Bought last 3.5 million at average price of $26.78. He held 11,788,300 shares at an approximate cost of $473,564,350 with a market value today of $187,433,970. It is not hard to see why he wants on the board, he wants his $300,000,000 back.
Lead_Express - In this case he turned more into (a lot) less, like $300 million less.
No doubt he is very smart, much smarter than I am and that he is right much more than he is wrong, but don't think his involvement is forward looking and that he likes RIMM and thinks its future is great. In fact, I bet he hates RIMM, he has lost $300M on this investment, he is trying to salvage it.
Those are the facts whether you want to believe them or not is up to you.01-23-12 01:43 PMLike 2 - an instant solution would have been a take over deal at say$25, now that is off the table speculators are getting out.
now it is up to the new CEO to perform and that is going to take a couple of quarters, obviously RIM is a great company that dropped the ball badly recently.
lets give the new CEO a chance to put his stamp(his people) on RIM and we will take it from there.
01-23-12 02:42 PMLike 0 -
Apotheker didn't fail because he was an outsider; he failed because he was a bad pick. That's how Wall Street viewed Apotheker at the time of his selection, and based on RIMM being down 8% today despite the switch, it appears Wall Street holds a similar opinion of Heins. (You should note the stock began tanking immediately after Heins' conference call this morning, a fact I'm sure you'll attempt to dismiss because Prem Watsa is here to save the day. Never mind that yesterday at this time you were claiming there were no problems at RIM, and that the alleged problems it was facing were all created by the American media.)01-23-12 02:43 PMLike 0 - No doubt he is very smart, much smarter than I am and that he is right much more than he is wrong, but don't think his involvement is forward looking and that he likes RIMM and thinks its future is great. In fact, I bet he hates RIMM, he has lost $300M on this investment, he is trying to salvage it.
In my opinion, Watsa joining the BODs gives me the confidence that RIM will succeed. He wants an active role in the best Canadian tech company. Watsa just doesn't want to make his money back, he wants to make more!!Thunderbuck likes this.01-23-12 04:18 PMLike 1 - Watsa is a BILLIONAIRE. This means that he is worth more than 1 billion dollars. In fact, he is worth several billion dollars. I'm pretty sure he isn't crying over 300 million.
In my opinion, Watsa joining the BODs gives me the confidence that RIM will succeed. He wants an active role in the best Canadian tech company. Watsa just doesn't want to make his money back, he wants to make more!!01-23-12 04:37 PMLike 0 -
I don't have a billion, but if I lost 15% (assuming he's a two billionaire) to 30% (assuming he's a one billionaire), I'd be VERY concerned!!!!!!!!01-23-12 04:45 PMLike 0 - Watsa is a BILLIONAIRE. This means that he is worth more than 1 billion dollars. In fact, he is worth several billion dollars. I'm pretty sure he isn't crying over 300 million.
In my opinion, Watsa joining the BODs gives me the confidence that RIM will succeed. He wants an active role in the best Canadian tech company. Watsa just doesn't want to make his money back, he wants to make more!!Last edited by OMGitworks; 01-23-12 at 05:26 PM. Reason: typos fat thumbs plus PB!
01-23-12 05:23 PMLike 0 - Watsa is a BILLIONAIRE. This means that he is worth more than 1 billion dollars. In fact, he is worth several billion dollars. I'm pretty sure he isn't crying over 300 million.
In my opinion, Watsa joining the BODs gives me the confidence that RIM will succeed. He wants an active role in the best Canadian tech company. Watsa just doesn't want to make his money back, he wants to make more!!
WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING?!?!?
the only time that i wouldn't care about $300,000,000.00 would be when i am a trillionaire.01-23-12 05:35 PMLike 0 - ThunderbuckRetired ModeratorNOBODY who's into the market for that kind of money isn't doing it on a day-to-day basis.
One scenario I wouldn't completely discount: stabilizing RIM, getting them back to smoother operation than we've seen in the past year (which would boost them back into the $20-25 range), then selling off for closer to $30.01-23-12 05:56 PMLike 0 - Dapper -
So I checked Prem's RIMM investment from SEC quarterly records. I assume he accurately filed the required reports and they are public documents anyone can look at. He has taken a beating on RIMM.
Round numbers here my brain hurts today. First 2 million shares reported last June, average price $50.19. Bought another 6.3 million shares at average price of $43.84. Bought last 3.5 million at average price of $26.78. He held 11,788,300 shares at an approximate cost of $473,564,350 with a market value today of $187,433,970. It is not hard to see why he wants on the board, he wants his $300,000,000 back.
Lead_Express - In this case he turned more into (a lot) less, like $300 million less.
No doubt he is very smart, much smarter than I am and that he is right much more than he is wrong, but don't think his involvement is forward looking and that he likes RIMM and thinks its future is great. In fact, I bet he hates RIMM, he has lost $300M on this investment, he is trying to salvage it.
Those are the facts whether you want to believe them or not is up to you.
We can't dispute the facts that he has lost hundreds of millions of dollars.
However, I disagree with the inference that he is only on the board because he wants his money back and NOT because he sees a future with RIM.
No big investor with the wisdom such as he will continue to dump millions of dollars into a company AFTER it continues to drop in market value, unless there is a BIG payoff at the end of the tunnel.
The BIGGEST reason why someone like him would do this is because he has a profound faith for a huge turnaround; and the loss in market value is only short term. In other words: He doesn't want to make his money back. He wants equity because he believes the company has a bright future which will make him a fortune in the long run. In his mind, he's probably buying RIM "at a discount" before the sale ends...Last edited by jranciano; 01-23-12 at 06:01 PM.
01-23-12 05:59 PMLike 0 - We can't dispute the facts that he has lost hundreds of millions of dollars.
However, I disagree with the inference that he is only on the board because he wants his money back and NOT because he sees a future with RIM.
No big investor with the wisdom such as he will continue to dump millions of dollars into a company AFTER it continues to drop in market value.
The BIGGEST reason why someone like him would do this is because he has a profound faith for a huge turnaround; and the loss in market value is only short term. In other words: He doesn't want to make his money back. He wants equity because he believes the company has a bright future.01-23-12 06:04 PMLike 0 - ThunderbuckRetired ModeratorBut he absolutely did continue to drop more and more money into RIMM as the price tumbled, look at the numbers I posted. He threw good money after bad. We still don't know what he did in the last few months as those reports aren't out yet. He would have to get RIMM in the 30s just to get even at this point.01-23-12 06:06 PMLike 0
- But he absolutely did continue to drop more and more money into RIMM as the price tumbled, look at the numbers I posted. He threw good money after bad. We still don't know what he did in the last few months as those reports aren't out yet. He would have to get RIMM in the 30s just to get even at this point.
That's exactly my point. No one, especially his position and stature, would continue to dump money into a dropping stock if they didn't think it was going to go back up in a big way.
He is obviously "stocking up" on RIM stock because he wants equity/ownership, so when the company makes its turnaround, he'll be sitting pretty with a nice profit/networth. His frame of mind is not encapsulated to just the market price of the stock. He wants as much ownership he can get, and he wants a big pie of what he feels is going to be a HUGE 180.
This is just another example of the mental divide how someone uberly successful and wealthy looks at a situation differently than someone who is not... (and in no way am I trying to condescend you; he's worth more than you and I combined I assume. I'm just saying his mental "master plan" is much more than just trying to make a profit by the stock going up higher than what he bought it for...)Last edited by jranciano; 01-23-12 at 06:18 PM.
01-23-12 06:14 PMLike 0 - Tre LawrenceBetween RealitiesSomeone in this thread said $300 million means nothing to him because he is a billionaire.
Hilarious.
Mobile post via Tapatalk01-23-12 06:24 PMLike 0 - everybody should do their home work before commenting on Prem Watsa, this guy has a track record, the Watsa news was the most important part to me and the best01-23-12 06:35 PMLike 2
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Prem Watsa on the Board of RIM
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